Losing thousands £££ Fast! Where to invest?

suzieemm

Thanks wombat42

Not sure what you mean by a 'cash buffer'.

I am a bit loath to go into the stock market now as I do believe it was at around 3500 or so a few weeks ago but it has gone up since so would hope it might drop to that again but who knows. The longer I wait though with my Axa property funds the more I am losing daily, and into the thousands per week so I need to do something fast.

Do you have any ideas on a good low risk equity fund? My IFA mentioned going into Fidelity - do you think that is good? I don't need the money at the moment and want to see it rising and rising but don't want to see it all go down the drain either as it is now but to hold on to it and at 63 I don't have lots of years to make up the loss and would like to enjoy some of it before I 'pop off'.

suzieemm

Thanks Greenface

I always thought the main thing of investing was always to spread your investment so wondered why my IFA would put the whole amount into property but thought he must know better being an IFA. Since mentioning my fund to various people I have heard that property was thought to be declining in 2007 so wonder why he wanted to go for property funds.

suzieemm

Thanks Greenface

I always thought the main thing of investing was always to spread your investment so wondered why my IFA would put the whole amount into property but thought he must know better being an IFA. Since mentioning my fund to various people I have heard that property was thought to be declining in 2007 so wonder why he wanted to go for property funds.

stephenni1971

suzieemm wrote: »

Not sure what you mean by a 'cash buffer'.

Hi,

Cash buffer = some money in the back to tide you over if you need it - typically 6 months typical expenditure


I can understand your frustration at seeing your valuations decrease on such a regular basis, but you have to balance that out with the fact that virtually all investors and investment companies have seen substantial falls over the last 18-24 months.

That said, when you were first looking to place this investment, your IFA should have conducted a full fact find, assessing your personal circumstances, your need for growth vs income, and importantly your attitude to risk.

While I cannot comment directly on your situation, I would find it unusual for a single fund to have been used for your investment. In addition, at your age I would have thought preservation of capital would have been an important issue as you need to preserve your assets for retirement. An example of this is shown in that many pension funds will start to move away from equity based investments approaching retirement and move towards cash funds/gilts which reduces the risk of capital loss close to drawdown of funds.

If you go back to the documentation you received from your IFA, all these things should have been on your Suitability Letter, which outlines the IFA's reasons why the products recommended fit your personal needs.

It seems from your post you are somewhat risk averse and if you could show this was was the same attitude you gave to your IFA then you may have some cause for complaint. Please dont think thats going to mean you can claim your losses back - as I said ALL funds and stock markets have fallen, but you could possibly argue that the advice you received was not in line with your needs and attitude to risk.

What you do from here depends on a number of factors, have you a pension fund running, is it being topped up each year, when do you plan to retire? Your needs from an investment vehicle will be different to those of a 30yo... and going back into equities will be something to approach with at least a 3 year timeframe...

suzieemm

Hi Stephenni

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I do have money to tide me over but the worry is just what to do about this massive loss. I do understand the downturn with the markets and that everyone is suffering but I haven't heard anyone who has lost quite so much and know that property funds must be one of the worst funds to be with at the moment. The Axa fund I am with is a managed fund which invests in two funds, Property and 'Morley Property, so spread throughout, but property none the less.

I have retired in the last three years and although I have a couple of pension funds I am not drawing on these. They are also losing of course, but when I see a loss of £1,000.00 or more this seems little to the amount I am losing constantly in vast amounts with the Axa property investment so am not so concerned about, surprisingly, as this amount is not a patch on the Axa fund's losses. I think I was assessed as a low to medium risk and I was surprised to find that this managed to lose so much with that sort of fund. It is just that my one and only large amount from the sale of a house is where the large amounts of cash are excaping and since having this money invested I have never seen a rise from the day I invested. I suppose I would have not felt it so bad had I seen it go down from initial rises.

Although I am taking a very small amount of pension from an old employer which only brings my government pension up to a standard amount each week, I am not taking from any other pensions which I paid into a few years back and although am retired now I don't pay into any pensions, I just made an initial lump sum. I think it best I don't ask to take it now as perhaps this is the wrong time and I am getting by without. I assume that although one pension has this year's age for my pension to be paid from I don't have to request this if I wish to postpone for a few years?

Thank you for taking the time to advise me.

stephenni1971

suzieemm wrote: »

Thank you for taking the time to advise me.

My post above gave points for discussion only, please do not consider it as advice :-)

greenface

stephenni1971 wrote: »

My post above gave points for discussion only, please do not consider it as advice :-)

Well i thank you also for being the only IFA to come and make a comment on this thread.Maybe others dont like to comment on other IFAs are not behaving truly independantly as post #3 would like to hear from more IFAs on this..
I think suziemm was expecting a loss but not at the vast amount weekly every week without respite.

If it make you feel slightly better i was also invested into axa investment bond back in mid 2007 split 50/50 deferred distribution and property. currently 80k down. IFA thought as a cautious invester i wouldnt make more than 10% per year gain but i have made a 30% loss in the past 8 months.

barny_100

I'm flabbergasted an IFA advised this lady to put £200k in one property fund :eek:

That breaks every simple investment rule in the book surely, I say that as an interested amateur advisor who would never make that mistake. Other ones definitely but not that one!

Plus property in 2007? Hindsight maybe but the voices saying the boom couldn't go on forever were getting louder even before the crunch.

Best advise is surely to go to another IFA to look at options.

wombat42_2

If it is any consolation Susieemm, falls of similar magnitudes (30% to 40%) have been common in equity funds as well. It is just that going forward, equity based funds are probably a better bet than a property based fund.

a7man

As you said you are low-medium risk, it sounds like he looked at what is low to medium risk (UK property) and invested all your money into it. I would look through your documents the IFA gave you v carefully, especially the suitability letter to check his reasons for this. You may have a good case of misselling or at the very least bad advice so some of your losses could be reclaimed this way.

You should also be wary that there may be a deferral period on the property fund you are invested in and AXA may impose a minimum of 6 months before it can be withdrawn, however as you are in retirement this may not be the case.